Ryan VanDenabeele
Boom! You have a shiny new website created by Impulse Creative. Now what? Let’s show it off and bring in the masses! Yes, we want people to visit, but not just any people. We want the right people. Creating content for your Buyer Personas and then distributing that content is going to get that new website to work for you.
Social Media Marketing (SMM) for small businesses is a popular topic these days. These are indeed powerful tools in your marketing war chest, but like anything else you need a strategy behind it. Without a social media strategy your time and efforts can and will face plant on the sidewalk of good intentions.
During the exciting journey as a business and new website owner you have probably come across the terms: content marketing and inbound marketing. They are the same thing. You can’t have a truly successful Social Media Marketing strategy without having a content marketing strategy. SMM is a single branch on your content marketing tree. It’s a place where you will distribute your mind-blowingly awesome content! Marketing on social media websites involves publishing content to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. It is an efficient and cost-effective marketing method to promote your small businesses.
According to mediabistro, 73% of small businesses use social media websites as marketing tools. Are you one of them?
Here are a few reasons why Social Media Marketing for small businesses is important.
Gain Control of Your Online Image
Image is vitally important online. It’s like meeting someone for the first time, we can usually tell if we like someone in the first minute or two. Same goes for businesses, only much quicker. Make sure your social pages look professional, contain your logo, have a link to your website, and are active. There’s nothing worse than going to a Facebook or Twitter page and it not having a cover photo or seeing it hasn’t been updated in months.
Relationships
Social Media Marketing isn’t just about pushing out your remarkable content, it’s about people. It’s about being human and giving a voice to your business. People use social media to connect with people, be entertained, and find information. They want to ask questions, share content, and talk about their interests. Are you there to answer their questions? Consistently engage with these people and you’ll earn a powerful group of brand advocates that will shout your name from the mountain tops.
Cost Effective
Social Media Marketing is very cost friendly, but it’s not free. Sure it’s free to post an engaging photo on Facebook, take part in an industry TweetChat, or upload a video to YouTube—but the cost is calculated in time. Time definitely costs money. Use that time wisely and be where your target market can be reached. Don’t waste time being on every single social network out there, that’s impossible. Target just a couple social networks that give you the most bang for your buck. The major players are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube—but this may differ depending on your audience.
You Can Monitor Competitor Activity
Tools like HubSpot and HootSuite allow you to keep an eye on your competition. You can open up continuous streams that target the names of your competitors or keyword phrases. You’ll then be able to see what people are talking about in conversations that are important to your business.
Integration with Other Media Sources
Social Media Marketing is just one spoke on the marketing wheel. It can be utilized in some awesome ways when integrated with other more traditional forms of marketing and advertising. For example, you might be doing a big radio campaign for an event, you can then push people to your Facebook page to sign up. Or you might have a brochure telling people to use your hashtag on Twitter to be entered into a contest. Simple and integrated.
You Can Prove Your Expertise
Over time your audience and customers will being to see you as an industry leader. Your consistent messaging about key issues and problem solving content positions your business as a voice of authority. Once you gain that authority and trust people will follow you in droves.
Impacts Organic Search Results – SEO
Google is smart, really smart. They constantly work to give people the most relevant search results possible. Social media signals have become one of the major factors in ranking websites in these search results. Creating engaging and sharable content on these social media platforms signals to search engines like Google that people enjoy what you are saying, thus giving you domain authority over sites that aren’t active on social media.
Social Media can be a useful part of your marketing mix. It gives your business a human voice and an competitive edge. Keep in mind, even the best of intentions can fail if you don’t have a road map setup first. Determine your goals, find out what type of content your Buyer Personas like to consume and share, and be consistent. Don’t have time? Impulse Creative can always help. We just don’t want to see anyone face plant on that sidewalk of good intentions.
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